DaytonDailyNews.com

Boomer Esiason said the Cincinnati Bengals quit on Marvin Lewis and though he adamantly denies that idea when talking to the press, I get the feeling the head coach — in private — may feel the same way.

After a second-tier NFL team like the Houston Texans routed the Bengals, 35-6, Sunday Oct. 26, Esiason made his scathing assessment on CBS' NFL Today.

"Bill (Cowher) and I were talking, this team quit on Marvin Lewis. It was an absolute embarrassment," said the former Bengals quarterback.

Cowher agreed, as did fellow analyst Shannon Sharpe. Both insinuated the 0-8 Bengals looked like a team that didn't care during the second half.

The Bengals were outscored 21-0 by Houston in the second half. A week earlier, Pittsburgh overwhelmed them 28-3 in the last two quarters.

No play exemplified the Bengals ho-hum attitude Sunday more than Johnathan Joseph's flag football touch of Texans wide receiver Kevin Walter, who continued on his way for a 39-yard TD reception.

The CBS crew called the cornerback's effort "lazy." And Lewis said it was "as poor a play as you can have on an NFL field...

As I told our football team... the way they play is a reflection of me....It's not the coaches, it's me."

Put that way, the reflection couldn't be much worse on Lewis. His team has the most losses in the NFL this season and going back to 2006, the Bengals have lost 20 of their last 27 games.

Before we go any further here, much of the blame should fall on profit-hoarding owner Mike Brown, whose scouting and personnel departments are run on a shoestring budget and account for poor draft picks and under-performing free agent pick-ups.

And so you end up with a team that — for whatever reason, inept, distracted, doesn't care — is getting worse. Sure, the Bengals are now without quarterback Carson Palmer and rookie linebacker Keith Rivers, but this slide began before they were lost.

Bengals receiver T. J. Houshmandzadeh — whose 54 catches are second best in the NFL — told Bengals.com he didn't agree with Esiason: "He doesn't know...Quitting on (Lewis)? We're just losing."

But he did admit: "When games get out of hand maybe the effort isn't what it should be....Sometimes (it) wavers here and there."

Lewis hasn't been able to stoke his players in times like that and here are two reasons why they might not respond:

• The team got rid of two of its Rock of Gibraltar leaders in the dressing room when it dumped veteran offensive lineman Willie Anderson and hard-nosed running back Rudi Johnson before the season.

• This season Lewis has been undermined by Brown and star player Chad Johnson, who should change his name to Cero Ocho (0-8). Against Lewis' wishes, the owner resigned miscreant Chris Henry — a sign to the other players that the head coach lacked juice. As for Johnson, when the Bengals needed a leader most, the veteran receiver turned into a selfish diva rather than just a playful prima donna.

Assessing his team after the Houston loss, Lewis could only say: "We don't have many options. We have to find a way to get these players better."

Sounds almost like a coach who wouldn't mind quitting on a few of his players.